The key to equality and a lasting peace between all peoples can be found in learning as much as you can about them, not propaganda, but the real true facts. When we listen to what others say about a group of people, it is always tainted by some bias. Let the group speak for themselves. It is, in fact, racist to assume that you know all there is to know, or that a person who is not a member of the group can define that group–assign meaning to their lives.

So, too, cultural appropriation can be avoided. Appropriation is a hot new topic on the radar of progress, which a lot white people are struggling with. I have some Mandarin shirts that I loved wearing, and on the outside this is appropriation. Even on the inside, for Chinese people, will see it as a white girl appropriating their culture for fashion. Unlike most, I know the history of the Cheongsam dress from which it is derived.

The cheongsam arrived in China in the 1920s and was a colonial aberration. In other words, it was brought there by whites to define the cultural style of a people. Wrong! It’s actually a Chinese fashion from a very specific area of the nation that has been colonized or appropriated by the rest of the world. Read the legend of its origination and it’s history here. In the 1920s, western culture really grabbed onto this dress. Its lines and subtly is still high trend. I love how my figure looks in one of these dresses, quite flattering to women.

One of my shirts is black with a silver dragon on the front. I adore this shirt, because it makes me think of China and its history and it helps me to talk to others about them and their history. There is still so much to learn, and I cannot wait until I’ve grown comfortable enough in my German lessons to move onto Mandarin. If I ever get a PhD, it will be in Chinese Classical Literature or Art. As one of the oldest civilizations on our planet, the Chinese footprint on the arts and literature is extensive and far reaching. If we look beyond the propaganda that is fed to us daily, instead of finding them a people to be suspicious of, we will find a rich culture with a rich and varied past. If don’t set foot on Chinese soil someday, I am going to explode!

As for the dragon on my shirt, he’s a five toed dragon (Lung), which was strictly forbidden for anyone but the emperor to wear. For me, a white female of the middle class, to wear this dragon should be an honor of great import and not something I wear out to the grocery store. My silver dragon is far more important than that. He’s sacred. My wearing him alone, dishonors that memory. It’d be like wearing Jesus’s Robe to pick up ice cream. Or, Ghandi’s glasses on top of my head because they look cool, but don’t help me see. So on and on.

Another culture that is commonly appropriated is the Native Culture. We are inundated with a lot of images of young white people in sacred head dress, buckskin and other iconic regalia. Like my dragon shirt, most individuals who wear these items are not aware of the level of sacredness behind them. That is appropriation, when you diminish the value of a significant cultural item to every day wear. I have to say, I agree with people when they say, “Our regalia is not ready to wear fashion, please stop.”

I am troubled, now that I have learned a thing or two, to step out of the house with my dragon shirt on. In most cases, my Americanized Chinese friends would tell me I’m being paranoid. However, that doesn’t make it any more right. They want to make sure that I am feeling okay. They may interpret my wearing as a respectful nod to their culture. The fact that they’re Americanized might mean that they’re thinking from the colonial point of view, not the Chinese point of view. Lastly, no one wants to make waves.

Of course, there will be cries of being overly sensitive and the rude name calling for people and epitaphs lobbed at those who think outside themselves. But, are we not adults? Do we not understand that our actions have consequences (good or bad)? Isn’t it time we take responsibility as thinking adults to consider those outside of us? It’s pretty sociopathic, or at least self-absorbed thinking, that dismisses such a discussion as pathetic liberal oversensitivity.

If you’re ready to sit at the grown up table and learn a little more about the people we share this planet with, hop on over to…

Writing about feminism can bring you into contact with some really—stalwart opinions. I’m asked to provide proof, constantly, of how this supposed privilege exists, considering women now have the right to vote. The abrupt shut down is hurtful and leaves you reeling a bit, but eventually, you get used to hearing it and ready your reply. Have it on tap.

In response to the right to vote: Somehow, the right to vote has become the magic bullet. It cured all our ills, ladies! Why don’t you get that? Because no, it didn’t. It alleviated some legal issues, but it hasn’t erased cultural ideology or systemic gender prejudice of laws and treatment. It hasn’t alleviated indoctrinated gender roles that reproduce sexism. Women are taught from an early age the things that control their hearts and minds, which in a lot of cases make them wardens of their own prison. For instance, women who hate the right to have a choice in her reproductive life. Women who believe that they must control other women, compete against other women, or malign other women to get ahead. Women who sell out other women for the attention of men. Women who roll their eyes at the word feminism.

But, since a woman is still less likely to be believed in factual statements compared to a male counterpart, even if that counterpart is a known liar, let’s let a man mansplain it to those who want proof/examples of everyday sexism (some of these are really fun)…

“People still try to deny the existence of male privilege, but these examples show that it’s very real – and quite influential.”

Holy Grail! At least to me it is. You simultaneously have the historical benefits and the addition of more work from a great writer. Mark Twain wasn’t a perfect man, nor did he claim to be. Rather, he was a man of his time. Often, I run into people who want to condemn these historical figures, but I find that shortsighted. It’s out of angst about oppression, totally understandable. I mean, we don’t celebrate Hitler. However, we do show that Adolf Hitler wrote, painted and loved German Shepherds. We see him smiling with friends and enjoying the company of children. Imagining him as an unlovable monster is easier. However, that doesn’t help us to deal with the future, as in the monsters yet to come.

Twain wasn’t a monster. He said and, perhaps, did things that exposed the latent racism of the time (which is a cultural/social construct, not a natural state of being, which requires society and people for it to exist). A comparison to Hitler is off base, Lincoln to Hitler maybe more on par, but Andrew Jackson is spot on. The fact of the matter is, we behave in a way that society constructs for us. We’re always framed by our past and present, but not the future. We cannot take our perspectives from now and apply them to the behaviors of yesteryear. We can say, now we don’t do that, but we cannot dismiss history because it sits hard on the stomach.

I’m reading Chris Hedges’ book “When Atheism Becomes Religion” and it is a book that transfers ideologically to many aspects of culture/society. We humans tend to like to define things as either or, and forget about the messy gray stuff that binds it all together in the human narratives. Hedges writes:

Twain, by his essays and speeches, felt the same way about fundamental belief (this word isn’t a religious term, though many atheists attempt to say that they cannot have belief they’re atheists, narrowing the definition of the word down to a very focused meaning that attempts to break the ball and chain they’ve hooked on themselves). We all believe the sun will rise in the morning, many have written about it. We’ve had millions…billions of years to prove it. However, the fact that tomorrow may never come, because of some cataclysm is also probable. Due to the sheer number of things that could happen to cause the sun to not rise in the morning, it’s probably a 50/50 shot? Our nature is to try and tie up the day to day in neat packages we can swallow, because life can be really shitty. The world is naturally violent and unforgiving, as is the universe. But, it’s morally neutral. The universe isn’t giving special attention to anyone or anything, as if it has a vendetta. It was just set into motion and continues in motion.

Physics reminds us that a phenomena has to be observed for it to have occurred. Since we haven’t yet observed the sun rise for tomorrow, we cannot say with scientific certainty, with conclusive proof that it will be there tomorrow. But, I bet we get lucky and it does rise. 50/50 is a good shot we’ll be okay, but then again, it has been billions of years and the laws of probability to declare that the likelihood of a possible event increases with time. Anyway, the truth is, we believe the sun will rise in the morning, and we’re routinely pleased to have it so. Believe just happens to be a more passive term for I think, etc.

Anyway, the fact that 150 year old writings of Twain have been dug up (who would have believed that, I mean with the scientific, rather mathematical improbability) is really amazing. The decay of those years could have seen them lost, unobserved, to time. Think of all the moving around, possible disasters like fire and all the little things that could have snuffed out this bit of sunshine for our morning? Let’s not commit social arson on this find because we think Twain was less than the glorified historical figure media has made him out to be. He’d agree with you that he deserves no pedestal. No one does.

Sometimes when you speak up, things happen in a positive way. We should never forget that, or allow the voices of negativity to stop us from speaking truth to power. Alex Fierro is ten years old. Affected by the lyrics of a racist song being taught in his school, he spoke up about his feelings. Maybe his innocence helped to strengthen his resolve to speak up to his mom about what was happening in school, but she also acted immediately and appropriately, with little fear (or probably a whole lot: fear of repercussions, fear for her son’s well being, fear for her tribe…). Alex’s innocence, his hurt, spurred her. It spurred the tribe elders. It spurred the school. Alex’s dismay came from a place of truth, and one should never be afraid to speak from that place. Thankfully, Alex hadn’t gotten old enough, or beaten under enough by the dominant culture to silence him.

When I read stories like this, I am warmed and energized. Stories like Alex’s teach me, as an adult activist, that you can make a difference, just you, one little person in a sea of persons all swimming with the current. Rock on Alex. I hope that the reverberations of your efforts will be felt nationwide. It is time.